Topcell Solar International Co (聯景光電), a solar cell manufacturing unit that is owned by United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), said yesterday it is planning to expand its production capacity to tap the growing green energy business.
Under the expansion plan, Topcell is expected to boost its annual production capacity to 450 megawatts at the beginning of next year from the current 150 megawatts and to further raise capacity to 800 megawatts in the third quarter of next year.
Topcell, in which UMC — the world’s second-largest microchip maker — owns a 60 percent stake, officially became operational after a trial production period started late last month.
Because of the production capacity expansion plan, Topcell is raising funds to lift its paid-in capital to NT$1.2 billion (US$38 million) at the end of this month from NT$800 million.
At an opening ceremony for Topcell, Lai Chun-lin (賴俊麟) senior vice president of UMC’s new business division, said the company’s order book is completely full until the end of next year.
Topcell president Allen Guo (郭俊華) said that although the solar energy business will enter a slow season in December, it is just part of the industry’s cycle, adding that business will pick up again in the second quarter of next year.
Lai also said that another UMC solar energy unit — Everrich Energy Corp (永盛), which specializes in solar energy system integration — has completed the installation of a solar power plant for a client in China’s Shandong Province, with annual production capacity of 18 megawatts.
With China’s solar energy market growing fast, UMC has long-targeted the country as a priority in the development of its green energy business, he said.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
AI: Softbank’s stake increases in Nvidia and TSMC reflect Masayoshi Son’s effort to gain a foothold in key nodes of the AI value chain, from chip design to data infrastructure Softbank Group Corp is building up stakes in Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the latest reflection of founder Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware underpinning artificial intelligence (AI). The Japanese technology investor raised its stake in Nvidia to about US$3 billion by the end of March, up from US$1 billion in the prior quarter, regulatory filings showed. It bought about US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million in Oracle Corp, they showed. Softbank’s signature Vision Fund has also monetized almost US$2 billion of public and private assets in the first half of this year,
RSS